Clan Of the Dragon God
by Zaknafein
Summary: Decided to try my hand at a wheel of time crossover. However that will not come into play for several more chapters. Reviews Welcome. Very rough draft of next chapter added.
1. Chapter 01

Clan Of The Dragon God 

Ranma and Wheel Of Time Crossover by Zaknafein 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this

***-----***

Chapter 01

***-----***

Ranma ran his fingers over the intricate lines of the dragon tattoo, each scale perfectly smooth and unmarred even in the ridged areas of his upper torso and muscled neck. It seemed almost alive, a perfect representation.  
  
"Farewell, Nerima," the martial artist whispered, his expression sorrowful, almost pitiful, as he stared at the Tendo Dojo.  
  
"I cannot in good conscience stay here any longer, for I fear I would lose my very identity."  
  
His sigh was one of sincere resignation. He had fought long and hard, and at great sacrifice, to get to this point. Yet Ranma had come to know it was a false victory. He wanted to deny it, to walk right back inside and go blindly on, hoping for the best.  
  
Ranma sighed away the momentary weakness and turned to begin his journey, only to be confronted by the wizened grandmaster, Happosai.

Happosai stared up at Ranma for a long, silent while, until finally he seemed to reach some decision.  
  
"I will not stay" Ranma reminded him.  
  
The features of the grandmasters weathered face crinkled, for he knew that this would be their final meeting for the next few years. Even though he seldom let it show, he truly did consider Ranma as his heir. It was just that, until this point the boy had lacked maturity.

However, he had now demonstrated to his satisfaction that things had changed.  
  
And so, as the aged man had always planned, Happosai reached into the recesses of his age worn gi, and drew forth a large, hide bound, book. Now Ranma was shocked, he knew the value of the book he drew forth, as it was what had brought him to this path. To say that Happosai was acting out of character would be a major understatement.  
  
"You are sure," Ranma argued, not yet reaching out to obtain the tome. "I may not return, and it would be lost..."  
  
"Take it," Happosai demanded sharply, "For all you have sacrificed to reach this point; there is no other that I consider worthy".  
  
The master paused then, his gaze locking with Ranmas own cobalt orbs. "My Student."  
  
Ranma eyed the leather bound volume for a long time. He had found it one afternoon a month previous, while searching Happosai's room. It contained a listing of every technique that the master had ever encountered, those he could use and those he could not.  
  
"This should help you to fulfil your desire," Happosai said helpfully.  
  
Still Ranma made no move. "I want you to have it," Happosai insisted, understanding the boy's hesitation and jerking it out toward Ranma. Finally accepting the wish of the aged figure, he held up his upraised hand, accepting the book. Conscious of the frailty of such an important tome, Ranma quickly stored it within his subspace pocket. Hidden weapons just one of his myriad of new skills.  
  
Happosai, after a momentary pause, shrugged his shoulders, and brought out his pipe.  
  
Ranma left without a word.  
  
Many hours remained before dawn; Few people stirred in the Tendo Dojo, It seemed perfectly quiet, perfectly peaceful. The young mans hardened fingers traced the grain of a wooden door. He had no desire to disturb the person within, or should that be people, for as had been the case since the month after Ryoga arrived, there was the steady breathing of two people within.

Why she had insisted on the cruel charade he did not know, and finally he could put thoughts of the two unpleasant people contained within the room behind him.  
  
With only a short pause at another door, that of his dearest friend, he left his home of the past year, perhaps forever.  
  
***-----***  
  
Ranma was a long way from Nerima when the sun came up.  
  
He didn't sit and enjoy the dawn this day. When the initial glare had subsided, he looked out towards the north and west, to the distant spectre of Mt Fuji, and remembered….

The month following his confrontation with Herb had been rather trying for him, yet not unmanageable. He had become complacent in his time at the dojo, and ultimately, had forgotten what and who he truly was.  
  
The martial arts were all about the never-ending search for self- improvement, and he had become content to remain at the same level. Sure, he may have learnt some new moves, but not one had been learnt for the pure sake of improvement. He had allowed the mentality of those around him to become his own, this was not a good thing.  
  
Cologne and Happosai both had their own agenda's, and ultimately, learning techniques that they had mastered years before would be detrimental to his standing with them. If he ever wanted to gain their respect he would need to start on a training mission of his own, away from their sphere of influence.  
  
Ranma had thought long and hard about this, and in the end the simple truth was that martial arts was number one in his life at the moment, and most likely always would be, just when he had lost track of that he did not know, but it was past time to do something about it.  
  
This realisation had led to him finding Happosai's tome, and the event that had changed his life. The first thing it contained was an in depth description of ki, in all of its forms. And there was more than one; this was but the first of many such discoveries.  
  
Emotional ki, the most common and widely known variant, required an emotional focus to access, its fatal flaw, as the more someone used this ki form, the more their emotional focus came to dominate their behaviour. Happosai, Genma, and Soun were prime examples of that little known fact. He had confronted Happy with this information, and the withered master told him that by the time he knew of the other forms, he had used emotional ki for far too long, and his behaviour was irrevocably changed.  
  
Pure ki, the most user friendly, but also the most difficult to access, required a person to be absolutely centred. And the amount drawn would only grow with time and use.  
  
Elemental ki, involved drawing in the ki from a single element, and when applied the ki took the form of that element.  
  
Environmental ki, drawing in the ki from the environment. Normally both environmental and elemental ki could be drawn in only in the amount of pure ki you had, however that was where the second thing it detailed came into play.  
  
It detailed a ki construct called a ki void, a very complex concept that used a large variety of different elements. It had two primary abilities, the ability to constantly draw in ki from the environment, the ability to provide ki for external use. Both of these things could be performed simultaneously, and to finalise the construct one had to focus the construct within themselves and it would morph into a physical object of some kind.  
  
This brought his thoughts to Happosai's wooden pipe and Colognes staff. Both items that he knew should hold no real importance to either of the grandmasters, but oddly were very important to them, now he knew why. Curious as to what form his construct would take he painstakingly followed the instructions as had been laid out, forming it within the space between his two outstretched hands.  
  
However, when he went to focus it within himself, he had felt an overwhelmingly painful sensation stretching from just above his abdomen, to just below his chin, this phenomenon was not supposed to happen, yet before he could do anything about it, he passed out.  
  
Upon awakening, he immediately noticed something different, He had a huge tattoo of a dragon winding it's way around his body, the tail starting at the small of his back and the snout finishing at his neck, very strange. Looking around for his new void he could find no new object within the room, his attention once again on the tattoo, he reached out to it and tried to obtain the ki within, and just like that it came to him, within moments he had a ki- ball easily the size of a moko takabisha hovering within his outstretched hands.  
  
Deciding to see if anything else had changed, he released the ki from the dragon, and attempted to summon his battle aura.

Nothing happened.....  
  
Or for a moment it was seemingly so, upon closer inspection the tattoo had begun to move as if alive and he could access his ki as normal. This was very bizarre; he could no longer call forth a battle aura. Thinking on this he eventually came to the conclusion that it was actually an advantage, as an opponent could no longer tell if he was powering up or not.  
  
Satisfied with this, he had replaced the book and left Happosai's room, hopefully he could hide his new knowledge from the others. He would spend the next month learning to access the other ki types on his own, by that time, if nothing had changed, he would leave.

A month passes…..  
  
As arranged, he had gathered everyone at the dojo to tell them of this decision, and its ramifications on his life. From his perch upon the rooftop he had observed his guests, careful to keep unseen. When at last everyone had arrived he rose up from his crouch and quietly descended, coming to rest to rest before the koi pond.

Initiating the umisenken cloak, he made his way inside to get a feeling for the emotional state of those contained within. It seemed that Cologne could see through the thief cloak, interesting. She watched him make his way around the room, yet did not alert the others, so he did not make an issue of it. Satisfied that he could handle the reaction of this oftentimes-volatile group, he dropped the technique.  
  
Instantly, he had everyone's full attention, so he began. "I am glad that you have all decided to come along as I had asked, as I have recently come to a decision on how I have been living my life. This was made after a lot of thought on my part, so do not think for a moment that anything you could say will change my mind. No, I have not decided who I will marry, I am still young and have no intention of marriage until I am at least 21, five years from now. I have decided that at this time in my life, martial arts are the most important thing to me, and over the time I have been here I have somehow lost track of that. To rectify this I have decided to go on a training mission consisting of one, myself. I will not return until this day four years hence. Should any of you find this unacceptable I only have this to say to you, I will no longer consider you engagement valid, as any woman I would even begin to think of marriage to would respect my decisions. Finally, to remain in contact with those of you who wish to I have opened an e-mail account, and will communicate through this method. Any Questions?"  
  
There were, however ultimately he made them see that his decision was final, and gave them his email information even though he suspected that the only ones who would contact him would be Kasumi and Nabiki. And, that was that. . .  
  
Shaking himself out of the memories, he set off once again, if he was to reach his destination by nightfall, there was no time to waste.  
  
***-----***  
  
Ranma picked his way south for many days, putting as much ground between himself and Nerima as he could. His trail eventually led him to a wide pass in the mountains and to a steep and rocky gorge filled by the mist of some roaring river far below. The air had been getting colder, and the moist vapour felt good to the boy. He picked his way down the rocky cliff, a journey that took him the better part of five hours, and found the bank of the cascading river.  
  
Ranma had seen many rivers in his travels, but none to rival this. The Tamagawa leaped across stones, throwing spray high into the air. It swarmed around great boulders, did a white faced skip over fields of smaller stones, and dove suddenly into falls five times the boy's height. Ranma was enchanted by the sight and sound, but, more than that, he also saw the possibilities of the place as a sanctuary. Many culverts edged the river, still pools where water had deflected from the pull of the main stream. Here too, gathered the fish, resting from their struggles against the strong current.  
  
The sight brought a grumble from Ranmas stomach.

He knelt down over one pool, his hands paused to strike. Suddenly, with a cry of "Katchuu-Tenshin-Amaguriken" Ranmas hand plunged down and came back up firmly grasping a foot long trout. Ranma tossed the fish away from the water, letting it bounce about on the stones, and soon had caught another. He would eat well this night, and he had enough clear and cold water to satisfy any thirst.  
  
To Ranma, with the easy supply of food and water and the comfortable mist to battle the surprisingly chilly air, this gorge seemed the perfect retreat. He decided that for at least the next few months, this gorge would be his home. Acting on that decision, he set his tent up in one of the many shallow caves provided by the cliffs overhang, and then made himself a vast store of firewood from one of the numerous trees in the ravine.  
  
His first few days in the retreat were completely consumed by him reading the entire booklet, thrice. When he was satisfied that he had committed its contents to memory, he then examined the time available to him, and what he wanted to accomplish.  
  
His current ki level still remained low, if gathered in it's entirety to form a ball it was around the size of a softball. Emotional ki was out, after a week of cold turkey, he could now see that he too had fallen victim to the pitfalls of that element. Confidence, while a benefit in small portions, the overwhelming certainty of his superiority had just been pure foolishness. To face combat without even a trace of fear was just asking for defeat.  
  
The amount of environmental and elemental ki that could be drawn in was limited to the amount of pure ki one had available. Hence, for the month following his arrival he worked exclusively on that aspect. The book said that building your reserves entailed time, and use. So he conceived of every possible basic use, and implemented those uses in stages, all the while drawing on the exercises contained within the book for guidance.

And so time passed….

Autumns warning blasts gave way quickly to the onslaught of winter. It hadn't taken Ranma long to figure out the significance of grey clouds, but when the storm broke this time, in the form of snow instead of rain, the boy knew that it was time to move on. His training had progressed very well over the last two months, his reserves increasing dramatically. Where once it was a struggle just to maintain a constant ball of ki within his hands, his battle reserves had now grown to rival those of Happosai.  
  
Nevertheless, he had remained isolated for long enough, it was time to once again focus on the more physical aspect of the arts. To do this he had decided that he would become a dojo destroyer, it was a good way to work up a reputation, and also the simplest way for one to learn a lot of new styles, one simply changed the victory condition from taking the dojo's sign to teaching him their style.  
  
This worked well for the boy, and he found that he would often stay on at each dojo long after he learnt the style at the behest of the sensei, particularly, to demonstrate his mastery of ki. It seemed that for most of Japan it was a lost art. This was a shock to the boy when he first heard it, as nearly every martial artist he had met while on his trip had some form of ki manipulation, even if only for physical boosts. It was scary really, some of them looked at him as if they did not believe he was real.  
  
After six months of this, the publicity was beginning to become to great, he had managed to avoid being filmed in action, but many of the previous dojo's had taken photos and somehow the national media had gained a copy. Luckily he had convinced each sensei to let him wear a ninja mask for each photo so only his eyes and hair were visible.  
  
He was a very private person by nature, largely due to his upbringing, so there was no help for it, he would have to stop and let the hype blow over. It was about the time he had planned to stop anyway, time to move in to an apartment in Tokyo with his best friend. She had already begun University for the year, and currently used the spare room for storage. He had decided not to tell her of his arrival, he wanted to surprise her.  
  
***-----***

Reviews Welcome.

Zaknafein.  
  



	2. Chapter 02

Clan Of The Dragon God

Ranma and Wheel Of Time Crossover by Zaknafein

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this

***-----***

Chapter 02

***-----***

Bleary-eyed after yet another long, restless night, the young woman pulled on a yukuta and crossed her small room, hoping to find comfort in the daylight. Her thick auburn hair had been flattened on one side of her head, forcing an angled cowlick on the other side, but she didn't care.

Busy rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she nearly stumbled over the threshold and paused there, struck suddenly by something she did not understand. Change was in the air, it would not be small, and it was most definitely unavoidable. Her life would once again take a dramatic turn, as it had those long months ago, the day her dearest and only friend had left her life.  
  
It had been a hard road, with nobody to rely on but herself, yet necessary. The few months after his disappearance were the worst, Akane and Ryoga had finally brought their relationship out into the open, like the dishonourable cowards that they were, yet neither Soun nor Genma even commented, only saying that Ranma was the one at fault, fools. She had no interest in associating with people such as that, they were all such hypocrites.  
  
No matter, she had many secrets of her own, most known only to herself and one other.

Hmm…  
  
There had just been a loud knock on the door.  
  
Still not thinking straight, she slowly made her way over to the doorstep, curious as to who could possibly be visiting so early in the morning. Opening the door, the young woman was greeted to the sight of one she had not thought to see for at least another few months, Ranma.

Unable to help herself, she quickly threw herself into his arms, overjoyed. It had been far to long.  
  
"Hello Nabiki-chan" Ranma murmured softly. And with this he gently raised her face up to meet his and kissed her full on the lips. Momentarily stunned, she did not even protest as he carried the older girl back inside to lay her on the lounge.

"It is very good to see you once again, over our time apart there are a number of things that I have come to realise." He paused here, and slid down onto the couch next to the still shell-shocked girl. Taking her hand he continued. "Over the time that we have known each other we have both shared our deepest secrets, and greatest desires. This time apart has made me realize the true depths of my feelings for you"  
  
He paused then, to gather his resolve. "Nabiki, you are the only person that has ever spent the time to really get to know me. You have supported me through everything, I feel that I can tell you anything and it would be all right. It is for all those reasons, and many more that I have come to see that I am in love with you."  
  
Overcome by emotion, Nabiki quietly clung to him; this had been her secret hope for such a long time. She dared not to believe it. For so long she had dreamt that this would happen, but now that it had, she did not know what to say. Instead, she just clung to the man. Her life had indeed taken a large change, but one thing was certain, it was definitely for the better.  
  
"Do you still have the dreams" was his question, some hours later, once the pair had the chance to take a quick shower and change. Something one would think would be uncomfortable, but the two trusted each other implicitly, there was nothing to hide.  
  
"I do" was her quiet reply, the dreams that he was referring to were her deepest secret.

Since her earliest memories, Nabiki had always had extremely vivid dreams each night, dreams of another life, a life in witch she was a lady of noble birth, her family fifth in the line of succession for the sun throne of Carhein. The countries nobility were all very devious, spending all of their time plotting against the other houses. With a whole other life such as this it was childs play to manipulate people such as the students at Furinkan high. It was these dreams that she had turned to while growing up, unable to form any real connection with her immediate family members she had turned to that spectre for guidance. The untimely death of her mother had just increased the young girls reliance upon them.

This was not a good thing, the jaded view that her alternate self had of the world had transferred onto her, and she had become unable to see the good in anything, viewing others as only potential for her own gain. Luckily, her time with the pigtailed boy had shown her that, he had helped the confused young woman to understand what the really important things in life were, enjoyment and happiness.  
  
The dreams had changed just recently however, the young noblewoman had been sent to a place called the white tower for training in a mysterious force called the one power. A kind of magic, and after a little experimentation Nabiki discovered that she too could access this power, this mysterious force called 'saidar'. After her first successful attempt she had become very sick for some reason, so unwell that she had to have a weeklong hospital stay. Thankfully the wonders of modern medicine kept everything in hand.  
  
This new element to the dreams had started perhaps a month previous, in that time she had dreamed perhaps half a year of training in this power. By now Nabiki could perform considerable feats with this force, and unlike ki use, it did not drain you. It only made you tired.

Firming her resolve, Nabiki rose to stand before Ranma, making certain that she had his full attention Nabiki began. "The focus of the dreams seems to of changed however. The young woman in them has just become some kind of apprentice sorceress."  
  
With this, Nabiki opened herself to the power, it came freely, as always, and she calmly wove a small weave of fire, earth and wind. This caused a small spark of fire to blossom in the air. Ranma was studying the small flame very closely, and then looking toward her, seemingly very puzzled. After a few moments he rose and held forth one of his own hands.

Fire bloomed; suddenly he was also sporting a flickering flame in his hand. "Truly Nabiki, that must be some form of magic, as it is certainly not any form of ki manipulation. Whatever you just did seemed to have called together a number of different ki forms and formed them into rigid patterns. It was very strange, there was earth, wind and fire ki in the weaving yet for myself all I require is to simply gather a small amount of fire ki in my hands and ignite it. Here, let me try something."  
  
He reached out toward her light then and suddenly her weaving seemed to collapse, only it did not. Ranma had seemingly sucked the ki from within her weaving, as all that was left was a ghostly outline of the flames. Interesting, this weaving was just saidar in pure form, it felt very strange, everything that her other self had been taught said that such a thing was impossible, the elements were necessary for any weaving, yet there it was before her, irrefutable. They could experiment more later however, she wanted to see some of the new things that Ranma had learned, he was always so creative.  
  
Ranma smirked at this, and suddenly made a grand flourish, bringing his hands together and making some obscure hand sign, purely for her benefit she was sure, Ranma transformed into an exact duplicate of Nabiki, right down to her clothes. It was amazing.  
  
How on earth, surely this could be no ki technique, yet Ranma assured her that was all it was, by studying Nabiki's aural pattern and forcing that pattern to overlay his, he could successfully gain her appearance. He said it was very draining, and that only reason it was even possible was due to the dragon tatto, A supply of never ending power.

Heh, she thought quietly to herself, it was like having a permanent sa-angreal. One that grew more powerful over time.  
  
They had plenty of time for further explorations though, more mundane things needed to take precedence here; first they needed to go shopping for some furniture now that Ranma would be living with her. It would be enjoyable to once again enjoy life's simple activities with the one she loved the most. Taking his hand Nabiki told him that they would continue the conversation later. For now the two of them needed to go shopping.  
  
***-----***  
  
Over the following months their relationship grew more serious, and as Nabiki control over her new powers grew, Ranmas finesse with his ki also increased. Encouraged by the successful melding of multiple sources that Nabiki achieved, Ranma began to experiment with the like, this met with mixed success.

Lightning was a simple matter of fire and air, and any combination of pure and elemental ki multiplied the effect, yet some refused to work together. Elements like water and fire for example. Strangely enough, Nabiki did not have this problem.  
  
Where her practice gave Ranma incentive, Ranma taught Nabiki efficiency. For every weave that she attempted, Nabiki explained in careful steps how she achieved her results and then Ranma attempted to do the same thing. In typical fashion his amazingly analytical mind swung in to gear and he found ways to achieve the same result with half the power, and in some cases half the elements.  
  
Life was good for the pair, there was no pressure from anyone, they could set there own pace. Ranma had taken a job as a construction worker with a local company, perhaps the only thing available with his limited schooling, Nabiki had suggested he take a job at a dojo, but the explanation of the fiasco that would cause quickly changed her mind.

They never discussed Nerima, as it was a place that neither of the two really considered home any longer, so it was quite a shock when one day they were forced to realise that Nerima still considered them.

They had visitors, Kasumi and Nodoka.

***-----***

Having the most experience with situations such as this, Ranma was quick to react. "Mother, Kasumi, it is good to see you both. Please, make yourself at home."

Both appeared shocked, whether from his unexpected presence or the manner of his greeting Ranma did not know. Nevertheless, they both quietly followed the young man into the apartment, content at least for now to let him control the meeting.

Ranma made sure to position himself beside Nabiki. Gently clasping her hand, he once again drew their attention. "I'm afraid that we were unaware that you would be visiting today, otherwise we would have prepared something."

Turning to Nabiki, Ranma motioned for her to take up the conversation.

"Yes, please tell me why the two of you have decided to drop by, I believe that I made my position quite clear when I left. Unless you were prepared to apologise for your terrible behaviour over the last year I want nothing to do with you."

Regaining their whits, the two women turned to look at the pair, carefully studying their linked hands. Nodoka was the first to speak, and surprisingly it was not exclamations of manliness, but an apology.

"You are correct of course. That is precisely the reason for our visit, we were certainly unaware of my sons presence here." She stopped a moment here, silently staring at her child. "I have come to understand what a fool that I have been. Believing in a man such a Genma, after so much proof of his utterly reprehensible behaviour." She looked at Ranma now, her gaze unwavering. "Son, I am deeply sorry for my behaviour over the last few years. To think that after such a long time apart I would hold a death threat over your head. Sometimes I wonder if I were possessed. Please, forgive me, allow me the chance to mend our relationship, what horribly little there is left of it."

Accepting the invitation, Ranma nods, happy that his mother had finally come to understand the situation. Turning to Kasumi now, he waited for the younger woman to add her own thoughts.

"I too must apologise to you Ranma, for such a long time I have turned a blind eye to the abuse that both Akane and my father have thrust upon you. For so long I have lived in the shadow of their two personalities, and just could not find it within myself to stand up to them despite their wrongdoing."

Ranma nods again, and turning to Nabiki once more firms his resolve. "As you have finally decided to see the truth, I feel that there is something that the two of you have a right to know. I have been in a relationship with Nabiki for a number of months now. It is very serious, and I have every intention of staying with her for the rest of my life. I would appreciate it if the two of you could keep this information to yourselves, as I do not want Nabiki to suffer the inevitable consequences if word of this, or even my presence here, were to get out."

Nodoka was undecided, obviously wanting to tell the world, Kasumi however was quick to agree. Having been in the middle of quite a few of Ranma's peer's overreactions, she knew how hectic they could become. She seriously thought that a lot of them were mentally unstable.

He should however learn of the reactions of the group over the last few months. Even after the declaration by the young man in front of her, they still just wanted to control him. Kasumi rose and made her way over to the couple. "Congratulations Ranma, Sister, I am very happy for both of you. The two of you deserve some happiness in your lives. It won't be easy though. Akane and Ryoga have become particularly bad, they say your very name as if it were a curse. The pair has started planning how to make your life as miserable as possible, and with the mentality of most of the others in town that should not be very hard. "

Turning back to her own seat, Kasumi carefully seated herself once more.

Nodoka finally came to a decision. " Very well son, I shall respect your decision. As a man, it is a life skill that you will have to cultivate. Any decision you reach must be final, and you must stand by your decisions regardless of the consequences. I am proud of you Ranma."

He could feel Nabiki's hand tighten around his own, she knew just how important his mothers opinion was to him. Even so, the news of the Nerima residents as a whole was troubling. Luckily, none of them had any kind of true relationship with Nabiki, and they certainly had no reason to suspect Ranma's presence here. The pair of them made sure to thank the Saotome matriarch, and then kept the conversation on events in their current lives. The time seemed to fly by, and soon it was time for them to go. They invited the pair to stay for the night, but were declined. They were happy to know that they had at least some support from there previous home, however small.

***-----***

Hours later, the pair were once again seated together on the couch. Discussing all of the new information they had learned during the course of the day. It was fairly troubling, truth to tell. But that was counterbalanced by the apology given by their two visitors.

Nabiki found it hard to believe the person that her sister had become. How such a nice young girl could become so vindictive and hateful was incomprehensible to her. To think that she to may have turned out that way was very upsetting for her, and add that to the pressure that her dream self was under at the moment she was very emotional right now.

Last nights dream had been particularly bad, rather than taking place over a number of months, it had taken place over the course of a week. A week in witch she was prepared to take her learning to the next level. A step that required her to face her deepest fears, She knew that tonight was the time. Tonight, her dream self would undergo the accepted test.

She was terrified.

Turning to Ranma, Nabiki told the young man all of this, of the uneasy feeling that it generated within her. She did not want to be alone this night, sensing the true depth of her feeling Ranma agreed to stay by her side, something he had yet worked up the courage for. And so the pair found themselves snuggled together in Nabiki's bed. Ranma's body wrapped protectively around her own, it was divine.

Even so, it was many hours before Nabiki drifted off to sleep, she had a bad feeling about this.

Ranma lay there watching, he would stay that way for as long as possible. If Nabiki had a feeling that something was wrong, then something was wrong. He trusted the girl with his life.

Determined to make sure that nothing happened, Ranma settled down to wait.

***-----***

Staring, she staggered out of the arch, barely aware of the chamber or the Aes Sedai around her, still lost in the disorientation of her recent ordeal, even when suddenly drenched in water the unreality of the moment did not leave her.

"You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul."

As the green Aes Sedai stepped back, her guide came to take her still quivering arm. Still disoriented the frightened woman barely understood the following words.

"The third time is for what will be. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast. "

She was tied securely, immobile, her hands behind her back. Forced to kneel upon the ground like if supplicant. Even without looking she could feel them, their unnatural eyeless gaze locked upon her helpless form, fear wracked her in waves. This could not happen, it was not real.

IT WAS NOT REAL!

She had to get out of here, they were going to turn her, she was in the tower, the tower!

The chanting began, slow at first, but gaining speed quickly. No, she would not submit, she would escape, she would!

Gathering the power until it felt like fire ran through her veins, until it felt as though she would burst from the sheer ecstasy of it. She wove threads blindly, something had to work, anything, she was in the tower, the tower.

The ground beneath her feet suddenly opened up, and she was swallowed whole.

***-----***

Reviews welcome

Zaknafein.


End file.
